Canadians often take for granted the fact that we have national and provincial parks that are available for our enjoyment and to preserve nature, thinking this is just the way things are. In truth, there are places around the world where the concept of protected parks does not exist.

One of these places is Afghanistan, though it was not for lack of trying as local wildlife biologist Chris Shank can attest from his experiences in the country in the 70s and over the course of the last decade.

"The impetus was really from the Government of Afghanistan in both cases," said Shank, noting that a number of groups first came together to work with the UN to create a wildlife inventory that would help identify priority conservation areas around the country.

"I had a friend working over there for an agriculture company and he recruited me to work on that project," Shank recalled. Unfortunately, the work came to an end in the late 70s with the invasion from the Soviet Union and the Taliban government that came to power in the subsequent years had little interest in conservation, let alone consultations with foreigners.

As a result, Shank returned to Canada to finish his PHD and wound up working for the governments in the Nortwest Territories and Alberta. It was not until 2002, a year after the Taliban was ousted by NATO, that Shank would return to the country to continue the work begun decades earlier to protect important environmental areas.

"The destruction was incredible. In the 70s it was very different than it is now," said Shank, who remembered a country at peace where you could go anywhere with only the usual warnings about crime you would get anywhere else. Upon returning, the only safe places tended to be up north and even then that was no guarantee.

"Now most of it is off limits. It's too dangerous," said Shank, though that did not keep him from joining UN Environment to do a post conflict study, nor did it deter him in 2005 when he really got back into helping develop national parks with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"The government has a long history of protecting areas and conservation and that mindset survived the war and continued after a hiatus of 30 years," said Shank, who was glad to help the Afghans pick up where they left off it order to ensure important areas received the protection needed for long term sustainability.

That said, the dangerous nature of the country in modern times did mean they had to scale back their operations to safer zones in Bamyan and Wakhan, with the former being more accessible and having a longer history of conservation work that allowed things to progress at a good pace.

"We leapt right into it in Band-e Amir and that was made an official national park in 2013," said Shank, with one of the biggest hurdles being distrust in the government that needed to be overcome.

"With all these areas there's land tenure concerns, land use concerns, there's concerns about government overbearance and not following through on their promises so there was a lot of consultation needed in Band-e Amir," said Shank.

In order to get the social license to turn the area into a national park, the government and their consultants organized a co-management committee made up of locals. This not only gave them a voice but also access to government officials that used to be distant, unapproachable figures and the decision-making process, which had the added benefit of showing how democracy works in practice.

By working with the people living in the area, Band-e Amir has become a popular tourist destination as thousands will come over the course of the year to visit the seven deep blue lakes surrounded by 60 foot high red travertine walls that act as dams maintaining the lakes.

"There's all kinds of legends about Band-e Amir, about how the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet created these lakes and so they're considered to be sacred sites to some people in Afghanistan as well as being a marvelous recreation spot," said Shank, who has seen locals renting swan paddle boats for people to traverse the lakes with.

"If we can get economic benefits to the people there will be less impetus to overgraze the land and use the brush as fuel," said Shank, adding that when you have amenities like a national park it also helps to attract international investment for other sectors of the economy. "If we can end up with the local people seeing that the parks enhance their standard of living that would be wonderful."

While Shank believes they are making solid strides in this regard with Band-e Amir they still have a long way to go over in Wakhan, especially since U.S. aid funding was cut back though they are working on a proposal to the EU to help strengthen the push for national park development.

"Really the fate of the national parks is tied up in the fate of the country and no one knows what will happen there," said Shank, though as he nears retirement he is hopeful that the country will return to a peaceful state where more effort can be put into preserving the unique beauty and wildlife present in the country that he has spent so many years helping in his own way.